Skopos Theory 目的论

Skopos Theory

For Vermeer, translation is a type of human action, an intentional, purposeful behavior that takes place in a given situation. It is a form of translation action based on a source text. He holds that any action has an aim, a purpose, so does translation activity. The Greek word “skopos”, which was introduced into translation theory by Vermeer in the 1970s, is a

technique term for the goal or purpose of a translation, that is what a translator is aiming at in the translation process.

The essence of the theory:

The prime principle determining any translation process is thepurpose (skopos) of the overall translation action,which is regarded as the central theory by the German Functionalism.

The advantage of skopos theory is that it allows the possibility of the same text being translated in different ways according to the purpose of the TT and the commission which is given to the translator.

It includes three principles: skopos rule, coherence rule, and fidelity rule. Skopos rule explains that translation is determined by purpose. Coherence rule mainly focus on the coherence of form and meaning. Fidelity rule is faithful to the original writing. If there is contradiction among three principles, skopos rule should be put in the first place.

skopos rule：

According to skopos theory, principle of all translation activities follow the \principle\target text receivers expected function types. The purpose of translation is to determine the whole process of translation, that is to say, the method of determining the outcome. But the translation activities can have multiple purposes, which further divided into three categories: (1) the basic purpose of the translator ; (2) the communicative purpose of the translation (such as enlightening); (3) to use some special means of translation purpose (such as to illustrate the special grammatical structure a language in the literal way) according to its structure.

However, under normal circumstances, the \of the translation, namely \cultural context of communicative function\make clear its specific purpose in a given translation context, and in accordance with the objective to determine the - between literal translation and free translation or between what the translation method.

Coherence rule：

It refers to the translation must conform to inter-textual coherence standard, namely with readability and acceptability, can make the recipient understand and have significance in the target culture and the communicative context. Fidelity rulemeans that there should be

interlingual coherence between the original and the translation (inter - textualcoherence). This is equivalent to what other translation theories call fidelity to the original text, but the degree and form of faithfulness with the source text depends on the purpose of the translation and the translator's understanding of the original text.

Loyalty rule:

The principle of loyalty was put forward by Nord. She found that Skopostheorie has two drawbacks: first, because of the differences of cultural patterns, people with different cultural backgrounds have different views on good translation; in addition, if the intention principle

required by the communicative purpose of the translation and the original author of the

opposite, then we will abide by the objective principle and principle of faithfulness. Therefore, Nord put forward the principle of loyalty to solve the relationship between cultural

differences and the participants in the translation process. Nord believes that the translator has a moral obligation to the receiver and must explain to them what he has done and why. This is part of the principle of loyalty. On the other hand, the translator is required to be loyal to the original author. The translator should respect the original author and coordinate the target text and the author's intention. Therefore, the principle of loyalty focuses on the relationship between the translator and the author, the customer, the receiver and the participants in the translation process. Nord proposed that the translator should follow the guiding principle of \

Skopostheorie has a wide range of applications, not only for translation, but also for interpretation, especially for interpreting studies. The translation process is a complicated process involving multiple choice, skopos theory highlights the subjectivity of the translator, the translator to get rid of the shackles of the traditional equivalence theory, the translation purpose as the starting point and fundamental task of translation, has greatly changed our original concept of translation. From the translation strategy, the translation method, to the choice of the form and content of the original text, to the production of the target text, the translation purpose is used as the reference.

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